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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Samuel Luckhurst

Juan Mata attracting MLS interest ahead of Manchester United exit

Juan Mata has offers to play in the MLS when his Manchester United contract expires in the summer.

Mata, who turns 34 on April 28, is considering options to play in the United States as he wants to prolong his playing career. The Spaniard is out of contract at United on June 30 and is due to be released after eight-and-a-half years at the club.

United triggered the one-year extension in Mata's contract last summer but he has started only twice this season. Mata also came on in the final seconds of the Champions League win at Villarreal, the FA Cup fourth round tie with Middlesbrough to convert a penalty in the shootout defeat and emerged late on in the round-of-16 defeat to Atletico Madrid.

READ MORE: Exclusive: United working on deal for Phillips

Mata told club media earlier this week: “Of course I will be involved with Common Goal (his charity) because that’s something that goes beyond football.

"It’s something that will last for much longer and it will stay there after I stop and many members stop, but my mind is 100 per cent committed to playing.”

Mata joined United from Chelsea in January 2014 in what was then a club record £37.1million transfer. He started and scored in the 2016 FA Cup final victory and also lined up in the 2017 League Cup final and Europa League final - the three occasions United have won silverware since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

A World Cup and European Championship winner with Spain, Mata has played 278 times for United and scored 51 goals. He moved to England in 2011 when he signed for Chelsea, where he won the FA Cup, the Champions League and the Europa League, as well as the club's player of the year in each of his two full seasons at Stamford Bridge.

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